Double Trouble Kitsune Style
by Featherbird
Summary: The Rekei Tantei gang have a new mission a demon by the name of Naraku has been gathering shards a sacred jewel to increase his power, and is becoming a real nuisance. But what's this? Kurama had a SON?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This fic is something that I took over from oOforeverobsessedOo. She wrote the first two chapters and then realized she did not want to continue the fic, so she handed it over to me. So chapters 3 to the final chapter(whatever it may be) are mine.1 & 2 are hers. But regardless of who owns it, you can not "borrow", steal, plagiarize, or an any way, shape or form make off with any of these chapters.

Similarly, we are not making off with, stealing or plagiarizing YYH and Inuyasha. Neither of us owns either show, in any way shape or form.

Chapter One: Why Are We Here Again? Who is That!

"Alright, tell me again why we're here?" Yusuke asked as the Spirit Detectives trudged through a forest in Makai. Kurama bit back an exasperated sigh.

"We're here to defeat a demon named Naraku, who has been quickly becoming a problem here. Apparently, he has the use of something called the Shikon Jewel Shards, each of which doubles his power." Kurama explained for the fiftieth time since entering the Makai.

"Yeah, Urameshi. You can't even remember that? How pathetic." Kuwabara said. His stomach growled. "Hey, guys? I'm hungry. Think we could stop somewhere and get something to eat?"

"/That/ is pathetic." Hiei said. "We haven't been walking for even three hours."

"Yeah, really, Kuwabara. Where are we gonna get the food, anyway? I don't think demons'll have the kind of food we humans like." Yusuke said as his stomach growled as well. Hiei resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and Kurama chuckled.

"First of all, Yusuke, you are no longer human. You're a half-demon. And we'll get food in a human village a little farther on." Kurama said.

"Human village?" Yusuke questioned. "I didn't think any humans lived in Makai."

"Yes, well, the strong demons, for the most part, don't bother attacking the human villages because they don't think it's worth it, and the weak demons who try are often so weak that the humans can fend them off." The red head explained. Yusuke nodded.

"Hey, by the way, Kurama, you got any family here we should know about? We all know Hiei doesn't, but how about you?" Yusuke asked. Hiei glanced at Kurama.

"…No." The kitsune answered after a moment. Hiei opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and closed it again.

"Hey, guys! I see the village!" Kuwabara exclaimed, pointing.

"Yes! Food!" Yusuke yelled.

The two of them started running towards the village. Kurama chuckled again, and Hiei's eye twitched. The two demons started following their friends, although much more slowly.

Shippo's head shot up as the small, gentle breeze headed towards the Inu group from behind. He jumped out of Kagome's bike basket and started running back the way they had come.

"Shippo! Hey, wait! Where are you going!" Kagome called after him, her bike skidding to a stop. InuYasha groaned as she turned her bike around and started going after the little demon. He ran after her, Miroku, Sango and Kilala close behind.

Shippo ran through the forest, following the scent being blown towards him. He came to the edge of Kaede's Village and paused. There were so many scents here, he had a hard time figuring out where the scent he was following came from.

He could hear the others catching up to him, and was about to give up when he saw a red head sitting against a tree. The scent seemed to be coming from him. Shippo ran up to him and started sniffing him. The red head blinked at him, surprised.

"Shippo! What are you doing?" Kagome called as they found him. She dropped her bike and ran up to them. "Sorry about that. What are you doing, Shippo?"

Shippo. That name rang a bell in Kurama's mind, although he didn't show it. Shippo stood in front of Kurama and looked up at him curiously, ignoring the others.

"You smell like my father." He said. Kagome blushed slightly.

"Shippo! Hey, your father's dead. You know that. You can't just go around telling people they smell like him." Kagome scolded gently. Kurama blinked at Shippo.

"I do? What was your father's name? Maybe I know him." Kurama said, smiling. Shippo smiled broadly.

"His name was Youko Kurama."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I do not own this chapter. oOforeverobsessedOo owns this chapter. However, I will own the next chapter, and regardless of whoever owns it, do not take any of these chapters. Also, neither of us owns YYH or Inuyasha.

Chapter Two: A New Detective Device and Reborn Enemies

"My father's name was Youko Kurama. But he died a little while ago."

Kurama's eyes widened as he looked at the little kitsune, shocked.

"Yo-Youko Kurama?" He asked. Shippo nodded, frowning at how pale Kurama was.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Kurama nodded absently.

"And you're name is Shippo?" He inquired. Shippo nodded again, completely confused. Before anyone could react, Kurama had scooped Shippo up in a tight hug. "Thank Koenma, I never thought I'd find you again!"

"What are you talking about!" Shippo exclaimed, pulling away slightly and looking seriously confused. Kurama smiled broadly.

"Shippo, Youko Kurama isn't dead. He's just in a different body." Kurama answered. Everyone in InuYasha's group gasped.

"You mean /you're/ him?" Shippo asked. Kurama nodded, laughing in disbelief. Shippo squealed and hugged him tightly.

"Wait. How would you know?" Sango asked suspiciously. "How do we know you aren't lying about that?"

Kurama sighed. He should have known it wouldn't be this easy. No one in Makai trusted anyone else.

"Oi, Kurama!" Yusuke yelled from behind them. He plopped a huge and heavy bag of food next to the red head. "What's goin' on here?"

"Is he really Youko Kurama?" Sango asked, pointing at Kurama. Yusuke looked at her strangely.

"Yeah…. So? You got a problem with it?" He asked catiously.

"Just because Kurama is in a different body does not mean that it's not him." Hiei said, appearing next to them. Then he smirked at Kurama. "I /told/ you not to give up hope on him, Kurama."

"What are you guys talking about? I'm so confused! And where's the moron?" Yusuke asked, looking around. Shippo bounded up to Hiei.

"I remember you! You're my dad's best friend!" He exclaimed. Yusuke blanched and Hiei smirked.

"I'm surprised you remember me." He said.

"Wait- WHAT! But Hiei, you're only friend from Makai is Kurama, which means- HOLY SHIT, KURAMA HAS A KID!" Yusuke yelled. Kurama chuckled.

"Yes, Yusuke, I do." He said. "His name is Shippo, and he's standing right in front of Hiei. And please watch your language in front of him."

"But- but you said you had no family in Makai!" Yusuke argued.

"I didn't think I did. Hiei has had his underlings looking for him for years, and they hadn't found him." Kurama paused as something clicked. He turned accusingly to Hiei. "You knew, didn't you! You /knew/ he was alive and didn't tell me, you ass!"

Hiei chuckled softly.

"Actually, I didn't know until we got here. I scanned around with my Jagan and found him just as you told Yusuke no." He said.

"/That's/ why you didn't put up as much of a fight against going into a human town as you normally would have! You knew he'd be here!" Kurama said, laughing disbelievingly.

"So- so you're Shippo's father?" Kagome asked, shocked. Kurama turned to her and nodded.

"But I thought you had died. Shippo said he saw the Thunder Brothers kill you." Sango argued. Kurama chuckled.

"Kitsune are amazing creatures, aren't they? One of their many skills is giving up one of their tails to transfer their soul to another available body to cheat death. That's what I did. I knew I was dying, and cheated death. I ended up in the body of an unborn human embryo, and I've lived in that body for fifteen years now, thus my red headed, human appearance instead of my true form." Kurama explained.

"I see." Sango said.

"Well, I'm glad the two of you have been reunited." Miroku said, sitting on the grass.

"Wait, I'm confused. Shippo, you have to be like, what, six? Eight? Alright, eight, but you say you remember Kurama being shot fifteen years ago. How is that possible! I'm so confused!" Yusuke exclaimed, falling face first onto the ground.

"Yusuke, demon years are longer than human years. Plus, Ningenkai is a few years ahead of Makai. So in human years, Shippo is about eighteen." Kurama answered. Yusuke stared at him.

"Right…. Where the /hell/ is Kuwabara!" He exclaimed, changing the subject before it got too confusing for him.

"I'm right here, Urameshi." Kuwabara panted. He had a load three times as big as the one Yusuke had been carrying. "You left me with nearly /all/ the food, you jerk!"

"Yeah, well, you were the one who was hungry." Yusuke said, shrugging.

Kuwabara set the food down and plopped onto the grass.

"So what'd I miss?" He asked. "Who are they?"

"Kuwabara, this is my son, Shippo, and these are his friends." Kurama said, holding up the small kitsune.

"Aw, he's so cute!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell any of us you had a son?"

"Because first of all, Hiei didn't tell me he was still alive, and second of all, what do you think my mother would say if one of you accidentally let it slip that /her/ fifteen year old son has an eight year old son?" The kitsune asked, a small smile on his lips. Kuwabara blinked.

"Good point. Urameshi /does/ have a pretty big mouth, huh?" He said.

"WHAT WAS THAT!" Yusuke yelled. "/You're/ the one with the big mouth, idiot!"

"You /both/ have big mouths." Hiei compromised.

"WHAT WAS THAT, HIEI/SHRIMP!" Yusuke and Kuwabara yelled at the same time, each using their respective names for him.

"I said you both have big mouths, and /don't/ call me Shrimp if you want to keep your head attached to your shoulders. Not that you need it, anyway, you never use it…." Hiei said, directing the last few comments at Kuwabara.

"ANYWAY," Kurama said loudly, "what are your names?"

"I'm Kagome. This is InuYasha, Miroku, Sango and Kilala." Kagome said, pointing to each person respectively. Kuwabara's face lighted up when he saw Kilala.

"KITTY!" He yelled. Yusuke hit him over the head, forcing him to do a face plant.

"Leave the poor cat alone, Kitten Boy." He said. "You torture Ekichi enough at home. You don't need to torture the demon cats here as well."

"I do /not/ torture Ekichi!" Kuwabara exclaimed indignantly.

"Ignore them. Kuwabara's obsessed with cats, and Yusuke's obsessed with teasing him about it." Kurama said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I have a question. Wasn't Youko Kurama a really famous thief before he died? Does that mean you are, too?" Miroku asked. Kurama smiled.

"Yes, Youko was a master thief. He was number one on the list of Rekai's top ten most wanted. Hiei was second. However, times change, people change, and being raised as a human by Shiori for the past fifteen years has certainly changed me. I am no longer fully Youko, as I have taken over a human's body. I have served my time in parole, and am no longer wanted by the Rekai police. Hiei, on the other hand…." Kurama trailed off and smirked at Hiei. Hiei 'hn'd' and turned his head away, arms crossed.

"Hiei's on parole, and it doesn't look like he's gonna be getting off it anytime soon." Yusuke said, laughing slightly and poking Hiei. He stopped the second he found Hiei's sword at his throat.

"If you don't shut up, I will not hesitate to kill you." Hiei growled.

"I won't say it again, I promise, please don't hurt me!" Yusuke squeaked. Hiei resheathed his sword.

"Hiei! You bad boy. Threatening Rekai's Spirit Detective adds another five years to your parole." A hyper sounding voice said from behind them. Hiei's eyes widened as he did a partial anime-fall and spun around to face Botan.

"What- was- that?" Hiei growled, his hand reaching for his sword. Botan noticed.

"Don't try for your sword, Hiei, or else I'll have to add even /more/ years to your parole. At this rate, you'll /never/ get off parole!" She exclaimed, wagging a finger at him. An anger tick pulsed in his temple.

"Why don't you just throw him in jail?" Kagome asked. Botan giggled slightly.

"We've tried. He just won't stay in! Every time we put him in jail, in the most guarded cell, he's always gone by the next day, and it takes us forever to find him again! So instead we just have him on parole and he's not allowed to do anything stupid. To keep track of him, we keep him with Yusuke!"

"I'm supposed to keep track of him?" Yusuke asked, perplexed.

"No, silly! We keep track of /you, and since Hiei likes action, and normally the action is wherever you are, he's bound to stay with you!" She said, giggling. Yusuke blinked.

"Oh…." He said. "Well, what d'you want, Botan?"

She held out a round, flat /thing/ with a screen.

"This is a N.F.D." She said.

"A who?" Yusuke asked.

"A N.F.D. A Naraku Finding Device. Rekai took the Demon Finding Device I first gave you and fixed it to find Naraku's energy instead." She explained. Yusuke took it and tossed it up in the air.

"Sweet. This'll make things a lot easier." Yusuke said.

"Wait. You guys are going after Naraku, too?" Kagome asked.

"Hey. Naraku's /my/ fight." InuYasha said. "He'd pound all of you into the ground. You'd better just let me handle him."

"If that weak half-breed can pound the Detective into the ground, then you don't stand a chance." Hiei said. InuYasha crossed his arms smugly.

"I've fought him multiple times and nearly beat him. The thing is that every time I start to win, he runs. Otherwise, he'd already be dead." The hanyou bragged.

"If /you/ can nearly beat him, then he won't be a challenge at all for Kurama, Yusuke or me." Hiei said. InuYasha stood angrily.

"What's /that/ supposed to mean? Are you calling me /weak!" He yelled.

"Don't mind Hiei, he's like that towards everyone." Kurama said. "All he's saying is that Yusuke is one of the strongest in all three worlds, and Hiei and I are right behind him."

The Inu group stared at him, shocked.

"Wha-what?" Kagome asked.

"Yusuke is the strongest of all of us, but Hiei and I are tied as the next strongest." Kurama said.

"So, how strong are you guys, really?" Sango asked, not noticing that Miroku had disappeared from his spot next to her.

"Well, that's kind of hard to decide. Have you heard of the demon classes?" They all shook their heads. "Alright, the strongest is an S- class demon. Next down is an A- class, then B- class, down to E- class, where it starts going into numbers for how weak the demons are. Hiei and I are high A- class demons, nearing S- class, and Yusuke, although he's a half-demon, is a high S- class."

"You're a half-demon, too?" Kagome asked, surprised, turning to Yusuke. He shrugged.

"I didn't use to be. But then I got too strong and woke some dormant gene in me, or something, and now I'm a half-demon." He said, shrugging.

"I've never heard of that happening." Sango said. They heard a half shriek and a slap.

"PERVERT!" Botan screamed. They all sweat dropped. Sango, an anger tick going in her temple, picked up her Hirakotsu and hit Miroku hard over the head with it.

"Stupid monk." Sango muttered angrily, dragging the unconscious monk back to where he was sitting before.

"Y'know, I was /going/ to suggest that Yukina, Keiko, possibly Shizuru and I could accompany you to keep you boys in line, but now I'm not so sure I want to…." She said.

"Eh, don't worry about him. He does it once to every girl, then stops." InuYasha said.

"Except /me/." Sango said. "And the only reason he hasn't dared touch Kagome is because he's too scared of InuYasha."

"He'd /better/ not touch Keiko." Yusuke growled at the half-conscious monk, who paled considerably.

"Ooo, is Yusuke /finally/ admitting to liking Keiko!" Kuwabara teased. Yusuke glared at him.

"Zip it, Lover Boy." Yusuke snarled. "At least /I/ don't claim my love to Hiei's sister every time I see her!" There was a silent pause. "Oh crap. I'm sorry Hiei, don't hurt me!"

Hiei growled and drew his sword. Yusuke ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction, Hiei chasing after him.

"Poor Yusuke." Botan said, giggling.

"What's going on?" Shippo asked.

"Only a few people know that Hiei has a sister, and even fewer know who she is. Kuwabara didn't know, and Hiei didn't want anyone else to find out, especially not his sister. He said that, parole or no parole, he'll kill whoever tells. And Yusuke told…." Botan said.

"So…. Is Hiei really gonna kill him?" Shippo asked. Kurama chuckled.

"No. Yusuke wouldn't let him, and they're too close, anyway. Hiei won't kill any of us. He might hurt us to the point of near death, but he wont' kill us." Kurama said. "They'll calm down in a few minutes."

"I- I- I- I- I'M GOING OUT WITH THE SHRIMP'S SISTER!" Kuwabara shrieked. Kurama chuckled again.

"Yes, unfortunately for you. I wish you luck when you try to get married." Kurama said.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.

Warnings: Possible OOCness due to the fact that I have to keep 10+ characters straight. Things might just slip by. Also, I have not been able to finish YYH or Inuyasha, so some things might be inaccurate. If they are, please tell me and I will fix them.

_italics_ thoughts

After their exciting first meeting, the two groups settled down to hash out a strategy and, in Kuwabara's case, eat. Actually they all wound up eating, because Yusuke and Inuyasha refused to leave ramen lying around. So they all sat around in front of Kaiede's hut, munching on noodles. Inuyasha and Kuwabara sat on the steps, growling at each other like the testosterone-ridden guys they are. Yusuke was on Kuwabara's left, the opposite side from Inuyasha, watching with interest to see if they were going to get in a fight. Hiei, who was on Yusuke's left side and could face Kuwabara, was adamantly pretending to not be doing the very same thing. Sango, Kagome and Botan were sitting in a little semi-circle near the ramen pot, which was in the center of the rough circle the two groups made. Shippo was next to Kagome, obliviously slurping down his noodles. Kurama had been sitting close to Hiei, but had quietly migrated until he was sitting behind Shippo, watching his child and listening to the girls talk. They were behaving fairly normally, chatting with Botan, who was talking about her teammates and what they were doing in the Warring States era. Kurama was impressed at how much information the two strange girls were able to gather without really prying. _I am not sure whether to complement them on their skill at subterfuge or groan at Botan's cluelessness_, he thought. _Or should I simply put it down to girl talk?_

The meal was uneventful, unless Kurama's slightly irrational behavior counted as an event. He hovered over Shippo like a pleasant red hawk for the first half of the meal. After watching him eat the ramen for a while, a frown started developing on Kurama's face. He carefully watched the other member's of the new group, taking in what they were eating and how they were talking to one another. Then he started interrogating Kagome about Shippo's eating habits, sleeping habits, stress levels, how often she replaced his clothing, and just about any thing that would be necessary in taking care of a child. She replied as well as she could, but had to admit that more often than not, she was too busy surviving to really pay attention to how much fruit Shippo ate in a day. Everyone else started paying attention when Kagome started getting red in the face. Kurama was just so polite that she could not possible argue with him. But everything he said and did made her want to hit him over the head with something VERY heavy. As the other conversations died down, everyone could hear the discussion.

"Everyone needs proper nutrition, Kagome. Especially children. Demons have different needs from humans as well. Ramen is certainly not a proper meal."

"He eats other stuff too! I bring vitamins and those gummy vitamin C things. I've been more worried about keeping him alive, you know."

"I know, but he needs proper care."

"Well, I've been doing the best I can. Leave me alone, will you?"

Things went on like this for a while, with Kagome getting redder and redder and Kurama more and more polite. Shippo watched interestedly for a while, but then realized that no one was get sat and went back to eating. Inuyasha finally finished his bowl – he had been competing with Kuwabara to see who could eat the most – and sat back against the steps with a contented sigh. He patted his bulging stomach and stretched up, perking his ears automatically for any strange noises. He noticed that everyone else was paying close attention to Kagome and Kurama's altercation, and stared listening closely himself. A frown started growing on his face, and his ears began pricking up indignantly. Finally he interrupted the two, "Shut up, fox." Kurama turned around to face him, an incredulous and puzzled expression on his face, the kind that says "Who, me?". "I am just trying to find out how my child had been taken care of while I have been unable to care for him" he replied.

"No you're not. You're trying to make trouble because you're a fox and making trouble is what you do." Inuyasha smirked at Kurama's slightly hurt expression, and continued "Don't give me that! You know it just as well as I do." He leaned back and rubbed his side on the step. "Fussing might be a your foxy way of showing affection, but we're not all foxes here. So lay off." Kurama's mouth twitched up a bit, and he sat back down without saying a word. Yusuke, who had been rising to defend his friend, was caught half-way up with his mouth open. Kuwabara broke the silence with, "Urameshi, if you don't shut your trap you'll start catching flies." Yusuke sat back down a little heavily and closed his mouth. He opened it again a second later and was about to say something, but across the circle Miroku spoke before he could. "Why Inuyasha, I never knew you had it in you!" "Had WHAT, monk?" "An intellect, of course." "I'm not stupid!." Inuyasha snarled back. "I'm just usually too busy trying to save your hide from your latest crush to say anything." He considered for a second, thought of something, and opened his mouth to say it. But when Inuyasha noticed Kurama staring avidly at him, he shut his mouth hastily. _I've got to remember that fox! _He thought. _Stupid fox. Now I'll have to start watching my mouth. He may acknowledge that I got him on that one, but that just means he'll be even more anxious to catch me doing something stupid. _

The next hour was fairly lazy. Inuyasha and Kuwabara were suffering from bloated stomachs, and Yusuke had decided that they should all take a break to tease them both. Hiei looked more annoyed than usual at the delay, so Yusuke reconciled him to it with "If you want to carry Kuwabara after he throws up, fine. I ain't stopping you." After Hiei conceded that it would be wise to remain in one spot for a while, Yusuke wandered over to where Kurama sat watching Shippo and Kilala playing tag. He sat down by him in silence for a few minutes, then launched the conversation with, "So, what are you going to do about him?" Kurama thought for a few second before replying, his face serious and contemplative. "I have no idea. He seems happy here. I can not simply bring him home with me." He glanced over at Yusuke, whose face betrayed no emotion. "On the other hand, I can not simply leave my child." Yusuke took a deep breath, and said "I figured you were going to say that." He stood up and turned to leave, brushing some grass off the back of his pants. "I just want to say, be careful. You're good, but if you get that hanyou onto your tail he won't come off it until you're pounded meat." Yusuke stopped and looked at Kurama, who looked hurt. "Don't give **me** that look either. You bicker with the girl too much and he'll stick that sword of his a foot out your other side." He paused for a second. "Not to mention, that girl isn't exactly helpless either. And both of them trust themselves to be right." "You mean, both of them are childishly arrogant?" Kurama inserted. Yusuke paused; after a few seconds, a sigh escaped his mouth and he grinned wryly. "Yeah. But I wasn't gonna say it."

Yusuke, in the interest of embarrassing his friend, measured both Kuwabara's and Inuyasha's stomachs with a string he had in his pocket, and started loudly predicting how long it would take them to get back to their normal sizes. Kuwabara was incensed, but to full to do much about it. Inuyasha knew that the idiot was just being stupid. Besides, he had a secret weapon in any food war. He digested food at a faster rate than any human or youkai. Sure enough, when Yusuke measured their stomachs half a hour later, Inuyasha's stomach had gone down half an inch, while Kuwabara's belly had gone down much less. Inuyasha sat smugly on the ground in front of the steps, his legs folded, looking like a bright red Buddha. If there ever was a statue of Buddha with a gleaming predatory smile and several visible fangs.

While Inuyasha beamed his self-congratulations to everyone in sight, Kuwabara was struggling to sit all the way up. He finally gave up and lay back against the steps, shouting insults at Inuyasha's ears, the only part of the hanyou that he could see. The ears twitched amusedly. Their owner was obviously not taking him seriously, and he eventually became incoherent with irritation. Yusuke was sitting on the ground, laughing at his friend and the ear-splitting grin on Inuyasha's face. Hiei had tried out various perches: the windows, the roof, the porch. He just could not get comfortable. He finally realized why he was not comfortable; almost half of their party had disappeared. _Kurama is gone; the girls and the priest are as well. This should be very interesting_...

Kurama had noticed that the girls were gathering up supplies and slipping off. He smelled soap in their supplies, and when they headed in the direction of the river he had noticed earlier, he assumed that they were going to take a bath. But when the priest slipped off after them a few minutes later, he started wondering. His son noticed him staring after the disappearing purple robes, and said "Uh oh. Miroku's going to spy on them again." The small kitsune turned back to his crayons, and continued in a matter-of-fact tone, "The last time he tried that Sango knocked him out for **three hours**. It was really embarrassing." Kurama blinked down at his child. "Because he shouldn't be acting like that?" "YES!" Shippo cried, turning back to face him, a joyful expression on his face. "You understand!" He leaned against Kurama's side, and whispered "I'm so glad you're back. It's really hard when the people raising you are younger than you are." "I know." Kurama whispered down at his son. He looked off at the forest, and an idea struck him. "Do you think Miroku has gotten to the river yet?" Shippo looked up at Kurama's face, and grinned as he realized what Kurama was planning. "No. He's still waiting to make sure that the girls are in the river. There's still about five minutes." Kurama picked Shippo up and started quietly off in the direction of the river; they were about to have some father-son fun.

Kagome and Sango kept a close watch all throughout their bath, but Miroku never showed up. On the way back, Sango seemed deep in thought, than said "I wonder what happened to him. His hiding skills aren't that good...I'm sure that I would have spotted him if he was there." "I know." Kagome replied. "Maybe he decided to be a gentleman for once." At Kagome's ridiculous statement, Sango stopped and looked her in the eyes. Kagome looked at Sango's skeptical expression and sighed. "I know it's not that likely! But can you come up with any better reasons?" Sango silently shook her head and the two started back down the path towards the village. But their silence was broken by a strange voice; "Actually, I can." Sango and Kagome jumped and turned to face the speaker; it was that strange fox-boy who claimed to be Shippo's father. Kagome bristled and launched into a tirade "Oh yeah? What's your reason, that he didn't get there because you got there first? You pervert!" She was cut off by the sight of Shippo jumping up onto the boy's shoulder, but started again with "You sick creep! teaching your son that kind of behavior! And you think I take bad care of him!" She finally noticed that he was laughing, and opened her mouth to scream at him, but Sango interrupted her with "I take it that you do have a reason for being here?" Kurama's eyes sparkled as he replied, "Yes. Kagome's first statement is correct; Miroku did not spy on you because we got to him first." Shippo burst out with "And you should see all the cool knots that Kurama taught me! Come one!" With that he jumped down from Kurama's shoulder, landing in front of his feet and racing over to Kagome. He grabbed her and Sango's hands and started yanking them towards the bushes behind Kurama. "Miroku looks like you guys did back when that scary bug-demon put you all into cocoons! It's really funny!" Kagome and Sango shared amused looks and let the little fox kit pull them across the path and through the bushes next to Kurama. There was a small clearing on the other side of the thicket, and the sight that greeted Kagome and Sango was enough to send them into gales of slightly vindictive laughter. Miroku was tied to a tree branch near the middle of the clearing, so heavily swathed in ropes and knots that he did indeed look like a cocooned butterfly. His sheepish expression only added to the hilariousness of the situation. "Well," Kagome said when she could breathe again, staring up at rope-swathed priest, "What do we do to him now?"

That's the end for now, folks!

Next time on DTKS: Sango's favorite way to cut ropes!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: YYH is not mine. Inuyasha is not mine. The original idea for this plot is not mine (as per earlier chapters), but this chapter is mine. Do not touch. Also, I know this is very short. I'm sorry. I realized that I was spending way to much time on this and decided to just get what I had out there. I will be updating my other story this week also, and then I'll be updating every week from now on (but the chapters will probably be short).

Dinner that evening was an incredibly awkward affair. Kurama had been so determinedly polite that everyone was spent more time eyeing him suspiciously than eating. Hiei was nowhere to be seen, although the bushes shook noticably every time Inuyasha and Kuwabara got into a fight. The girls had formed their own little group, with Shippo and Kirara in their midst, and were chatting amongst themselves; conversation on the other side of the fire was nonexistent. Occasionally Yusuke would venture a remark, but Inuyasha was too busy watching Kurama like a hawk and trying not to burst out laughing at Miroku.

Miroku was a sight to laugh at. His stone-sober expression was at odds with the way he fought to remain relatively upright. His tattered robes looked like they'd been caught in a windmill with an angry cat, and his hair - well, the less said the better. When the monk had snuck off after the girls everyone had assumed that he would get slapped and that would be the end of it, but he was obviously worse for the wear.

Sango sighed happily as she looked over at Miroku. Finding him hung upright in the clearing had been like a dream come true. Yes, she had had a crush on him at one point. But his abominable behavior had eventually put paid to that. Now he was just an irritation. She knew that the blue-haired girl was curious about Miroku's appearance, and the smug feeling of knowing something the unnatural chattering squirrel-girl didn't know was adding to her satisfaction. The blue-haired fashion disaster (bright red hakama! What had she been thinking?) had been annoying everyone ever since this other group arrived with her arrogant demands and her seeming omniscience. It had eventually gotten so bad that Sango simply ignored the other girl and spent dinner remembering that afternoon

Miroku hung upside down from the tree branch, turning purple as blood rushed to his head. Kagome, when she had stopped laughing, said "Sango, we have to get him down. Even if he does deserve this."

"But why?"

"You know why! Besides, he's not that bad!"

"Really?"

"...Well, it's still not right to let someone die of – of – of whatever happens when they are upside down."

"They suffocate, Kagome."

"That's horrible! Seriously, Sango, we need to get him down."

"Fine." Sango resigned herself to merely slapping Miroku sillier once again. But then –

"Kagome?"

"Yes, Sango?"

"Do you mind if we do it...in a slightly unorthodox way?"

"Not really. What do you mean?"

That was when Sango pulled out her toy hirakotsu, the one she had practiced with as a child. This was going to be fun.

Dinner was wrapping up when Sango came back to the present. Miroku was carefully avoiding her, as well as Kagome. Maybe there was some hope for him after all. Inuyasha, in an effort to outdo his new rivals for Kagome, made a serious effort to be polite. He actually volunteered to help with the dishes, so naturally all of the boys did. The girls watched the dish-washing descend into a gigantic water-fight after the new fox splashed Inuyasha and one of the new humans. The dishes all survived, so Kagome and the new girls sat back to watch the show. Sango, on the other hand, was looking for something specifc. The fox, Kurama, had been carefully showing off for someone, and she wanted to know who that someone was.

Demon-slayers spent more time studying demons than slaying them, and even had fairly civil relations with the more civilized forms of demon-kind. Foxes, who preferred personal feuds and intrigues to randomly slaughtering humans were one of the demon types that slayers were likely to encounter in a relatively friendly setting. Slayers had, over the years, learned how to recognize the basic vulpine cultural signals, and everything about Kurama's behavior screamed that he was trying to impress a potential partner. Sango carefully changed her expression to "indifferent but looking," but did not notice Kurama replying to her signals. Was he angling for Kagome, then? Sango sighed. It was going to be a long few weeks.


End file.
